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Disability Diversity in Hollywood
This article in The Mighty echoes a lot of my sentiments about disability representation in TV and film: https://themighty.com/2018/10/examining-hollywood-disability-diversity/. There have definitely been great strides in recent years with shows like “Speechless,” but there’s plenty of more stories to tell about characters with disabilities. Personally, I’d love to see a quirky sitcom like “New Girl” about a character in a wheelchair navigating through their twenties. I also write about disabled characters in my own fiction and comic book stories.
What do you all think?
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1 Reply
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A disabled main character? Whoa, not sure the world is ready for that (does my sarcasm come off in writing?) That would be great to see, but I would even be happy if maybe a main characters bestie has a disability. At least get it out there. In the TV series Moms, one of the main characters was dating a guy in a wheelchair, she still might be but I haven’t tuned in for a while. Again the actor is not in a wheelchair. It was at least refreshing to see this dynamic. Disappointing they can’t hire a disabled actor. In a relatively new show, 9-1-1 on Fox, I’m happy to see them cast a young man, Gavin McHugh, to play the son of one of the characters. He himself has cerebral palsy. It will be interesting to see how this character develops. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him down the road.
My question is how do we take it a step further in casting more disabled actors in those rolls? Is there not enough interest in the disabled community to become actors? Does Hollywood not want to be bothered seeking out disabled actors? Does it seem daunting to work with disabilities? I would imagine puppies and children would be worse. Maybe it’s a money issue? I don’t know. What do you guys think?